


Pick a song for me

by NightsSongs



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, Alternate Universe, Coffee Shop, Cover letters are evil, First time tagging, First time writing, Friends helping friends getting through hard times, Friendship, Gen, Honorary mention of Daichi, Humor with a little angst here and there, and it shows, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25648201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsSongs/pseuds/NightsSongs
Summary: Kageyama is struggling and Hinata comes to the rescue
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Pick a song for me

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! Long time reader, first time writer. I hope you enjoy this short story of mine as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Time flies when you have fun. Or at least, time is supposed to fly when you have fun. Because no one would ever consider a happy and fulfilling activity to browse dozens of disappointing job applications, and yet a whole afternoon went by in a blink of an eye.  


Unless the definition of “fun” had changed in the past few months and Kageyama wasn’t aware of it.  


He rubbed his tired eyes and then read again the online form he was filling, complete with a ridiculous cover letter that would much likely damage more than help his cause. He sighed, editing one insignificant comma out of the letter, and fighting the urge to erase it all. Again.  


“Ah man, this shift is _killing_ me.” A redhead suddenly plopped in the empty spot at Kageyama’s table, inches from his hot-now-cold chocolate.  


Kageyama jumped in his chair and quickly steadied the mug that had tipped a little too close to the computer before glaring at the newcomer. Hinata didn’t seem to realise that despite his short and thin build, he was a destructive force of nature whenever he moved.  


"Tell me about it…” Kageyama rolled his eyes, then he went back on his online form, tilting the screen a little closer to him.  


Hinata didn’t seem to catch the hint that Kageyama needed some time alone to deal with that stupid letter. Instead, he leaned on Kageyama’s shoulder to peep at the screen.  


Kageyama quickly minimized the tab, ears reddening.  


“What are you doing?” Hinata asked. Then, after noticing the bland desktop, he smirked mischievously, “You know, you shouldn’t steal the cafe’s Wi-Fi to watch porn.”  


Kageyama’s face lit up like a traffic light.  


“I was _not_ doing that, you dumbass!” he spluttered, looking around to check if someone had overheard Hinata.  


His friend had the nerve to laugh wholeheartedly at that.  


“Relax, Kageyama! Wow, you’re way too easy to tease.” he clapped at his back. “Not that it would work, though. The connection’s too slow.”  


Kageyama surely had misheard him.  


“And how would _you_ know about that?” he said, narrowing his eyes at him.  


Hinata simply shrugged, “Customers’ complains. And don’t ask” he quickly added, pointing his finger at Kageyama before he could even open his mouth.  


Kageyama raised an eyebrow but complied. Suddenly he saw coffee shop customers under a completely different light.  


Hinata yawned and pulled a bag of chips from the apron’s pocket.  


“So,” he continued between bites, “what are you so mysterious about?”  


Kageyama sighed and opening the tab, sliding the PC towards Hinata as he leaned on his shoulder again.  


“Yeah, I see it now, this is so embarrassing, how can you even search for a job in public with a straight face.” he nodded gravely, fighting hard to suppress another snicker.  


“I’m not embarrassed about that” he rolled his eyes and turned the PC back towards him, “It’s the cover letter, I just… can’t get those right”  


Hinata hummed in agreement. He then read it carefully another time.  


“Looks good, Kageyama. Just send it”  


“Yeah, and when was the last time you wrote one?” Kageyama took back the PC, frowning at his own words.  


“Not everybody can get by in life just by their good looks.” Hinata leaned back in his chair with a smug smile. Kageyama hardly bothered to raised one eyebrow, frowning even deeper.  


“You’re overthinking it again, just send it.” Hinata repeated, waving his hand at the screen.  


When he didn’t get a reaction nor an answer, he drew a long sigh.  


“Kageyama,” Hinata said, his voice unusually stern, and this time Kageyama tore his eyes from the screen, “Come on.”  


Kageyama sighed and scrolled at the end of the form, finally clicking on the big, blue send button. Perfect or not, it did feel good to finally get rid of it.  


Hinata emptied the remaining content of the bag in his mouth before crushing it in his fist.  


“So… How many of those you did today?” he asked casually, wiping his hands on the apron.  


Kageyama looked away, reaching for the mug and taking a sip that he immediately regretted. Even worse, Hinata had always been way to observant not to notice the way his fingers were tapping nervously around the mug.  


“Today sucked.” Kageyama eventually admitted, voice so low that he wasn’t sure Hinata could hear him.  


“You’ll be fine, you don’t need ten jobs after all.” Hinata said, swatting away Kageyama’s concern as if they were annoying flies.  


You’ll be fine. Hinata would repeat it over and over, every time with the same encouraging smile, one that Kageyama wasn’t sure he deserved. The past few months had been the worst of his life so far, to the point that all his belongings currently fitted in a couple of suitcases and he was living off an old friend he had seen barely twice after high school. And somehow, the worst of all was that Hinata didn’t hesitate one moment in letting him stay over, as if it was the most natural thing to do. That random kindness wasn’t something that Kageyama was used to.  


Just when his thoughts were veering toward a much depressing path, he heard the first few notes of a familiar song coming from the speakers. It was the kind of song that made it through from his first mp3 player to every new mobile phone. Now that he thought about it, that whole afternoon the music was a little different from usual, and the rest of the customers seemed to have noticed it too.  


“I get that you’re sick of the coffee shop playlist, but Guns ‘n‘ Roses seem a little too much, don’t you think?” Kageyama commented.  


Hinata laughed and pointed back at the counter.  


“Don’t look at me, it’s Tsukishima who’s taking advantage Daichi’s day off.” he said, not exactly in a low voice.  


Kageyama looked at the counter where a solemnly bored employee was whipping up what probably was the millionth pumpkin spice latte in a row. Tsukishima raised his head and pushed his glasses up to glare more effectively at his co-worker, who gave him happy thumbs up in reply.  


“I didn’t peg him as a rock music lover.” Kageyama said. Admittedly, it was surprising to find out that he and Tsukishima had similar taste in music.  


“Yeah, who would’ve thought.” Hinata said with a weird look on his face, as if Kageyama was the butt of a joke he didn’t get. Then he glanced at the watch on his wrist and groaned, “I can believe my fifteen precious minutes have already passed”  


“Time flies when you have fun.” Kageyama said absentmindedly.  


Hinata scoffed and got up, stretching like a cat.  


“And this is why the next two hours will feel like twenty.” he said, and then he looked a little apologetically, “Are you sure you want to wait for me? I’ll probably finish late.”  


“Sure, no problem. Maybe I’ll find something interesting again.” Kageyama agreed, beginning to scan through his inbox again.  


Besides, he didn’t feel like going back to an empty apartment alone.  


Hinata hesitated by the table for a moment, as if he wanted to add something. Then he sighed lightly, and his usual smile was there again.  


“OK, see you later” he said.  


Kageyama watched him sidestepping around the tables towards the staff room. He wasn’t surprised to see Hinata knocking into a small stool, but he still snorted loudly when he almost tripped over it and got up blushing furiously to the roots of his hair.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hinata headed back behind the counter with an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. For starters, he was sure there was a brand-new bruise forming on his left knee just when he needed to stay on his feet for the next two to three hours.  


But mainly, he was worrying about Kageyama. For weeks now he had been staying at his place and it seemed that he was getting everyday more anxious and miserable. Granted, he had been miserable even before moving into Hinata’s apartment. But now he hardly ever smiled, and he was beginning to overthink every little thing. Kageyama had always been an over thinker even back in high school, but Hinata thought that getting through law school as blazing fast as he did should have given him enough confidence to get over it. Or maybe Kageyama did get over it but being jobless -and technically homeless- for too long had made him regress to his high school bad habits.  


Then a thought popped in Hinata’s mind, bright and happy, and he went in the back shop to change the current playlist adding one song to the list. He hurried back to work before Tsukishima would scold him for dragging his break, although he would always be less strict whenever he was in the same shift with Yamaguchi.  


When the last notes of the current song faded out, Hinata looked back at Kageyama eager to see his reaction to the next one.  


Kageyama was still sitting at his table, bent over the PC as usual. It took him less than five seconds to realise what song was playing, and his head whipped towards Hinata.  


“ _Seriously?_ ” he mouthed, eyes wide open in surprise and a glint of amusement. 

Hinata shrugged as if he knew nothing about it. Then he thought better, and pointed at Tsukishima cleaning the counter next to him, which earned him a menacing scoff.  


“Why don’t you tell him that you’re the one that keeps changing the playlist today” Tsukishima asked him in his best uninterested tone.  


Hinata shrugged, “He would just call me a dumbass for trying to cheer him up, probably.”  


“Some friend you have.” Tsukishima deadpanned, “And you know we’re not allowed to change the music.”  


“Come on Tsukishima,” Yamaguchi said from the register with a bright smile, “Kageyama does need to be cheered up.”  


Tsukishima pinched his nose with mild exasperation and pointed a menacing finger at Hinata, “If anyone complains, I’m telling Daichi.”  


The catchy rhythm of _99 Luftballoons_ filled the coffee shop, and Hinata could see Kageyama bobbing his head at the music, a tiny smile on his face.  


Hinata found himself smiling too.  


“I don’t care,” he said almost to himself.  


What’s a couple of songs and a possible scolding, if he could turn Kageyama’s frown into a smile for an afternoon.

**Author's Note:**

> So, here it is. This is actually an experiment, I'm thinking about expanding this into a longer, multichapter fic, so let me know what are your thoughts, any advice (or constructive criticism, so please don't yell at me) is welcomed. Thank you for reading!


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